Identification of phosphorylethanolamine in 31P-NMR spectra of human peripheral blood lymphocytes.

The 31P-NMR spectrum of intact human peripheral blood lymphocytes contains a large unidentified peak in the phosphomonoester region. The pH dependency of the 31P-NMR chemical shift of this peak in perchloric acid extracts of peripheral blood lymphocytes was recorded. It was compared to the pH dependency of the chemical shift of phosphorylethanolamine, phosphorylcholine, and ribose 5-phosphate in model solutions. An excellent agreement was found between the behavior of phosphorylethanolamine and the unidentified peak. To further substantiate this assignment phosphorylethanolamine was added to extracts and the pH titrations were repeated. The added phosphorylethanolamine gave exactly the same chemical shift as the unidentified peak and no difference was observed with pH titrations. The concentration of phosphorylethanolamine in human peripheral blood lymphocytes was estimated by 31P NMR to be 2.4 mumol/10(9) cells (range 0.9-4.3/10(9) cells, n = 4).